FairMormon Newsletter 2020 Edition 1212

A Guest Message from Sarah Quan

One of my favorite things about the holiday season are the strings of bright white lights wrapped around Christmas trees. Yesterday, when we dug out our holiday decorations box out of the attic and tried to plug the lights in, one of the bulbs in the string blew and the rest of the bulbs in the string went dark.

Melissa Inouye once compared a string of Christmas lights to the way we sometimes view our testimony--when one belief we hold true is in question, the rest of our testimony also goes out. Sometimes we think of our belief system as a simple string of if/then statements: If the Book of Mormon is completely historically and doctrinally true then this church must be true. What happens to our testimony when doubt is casted on the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as a historical record? What happens when a morsel of church history causes us to doubt Joseph Smith's prophetic mantle? Does the light we once found in the power of the Priesthood suddenly go out? Do the rest of the bulbs on our metaphorical string of lights shatter?

Lehi and Alma's discourses on the tree of life teach us the process of conversion is more akin to a journey. This journey is to internalize the word of God as the love of God, to cling to Lehi's rod of iron or plant Alma's seed--both of which represent the world of God--in order to taste the fruit of the tree of life. As we travel along the rod of iron or grow a plant, our perspective changes. As we walk alongside the iron rod, we see new rivers and buildings; as we watch our seed grow, our sprout looks different from our mature plant.

Just as our perspective along a journey of growth changes, so should our perspective of the gospel as we exercise our faith in Christ. As we learn more about church history and deepen our understanding of the gospel, let us ask ourselves: How does this new concept change and mature my perspective of the gospel? How does this new information (if it is true) about Joseph Smith deepen my understanding of how prophets work?

My hope for this holiday season is that we may take the time to ponder whether we view our testimony as a string of lights or as a journey, to consider how our testimony is constructed, and marvel at the changes in ourselves as we become more deeply converted.

Events & Updates

Join us Sundays at noon MST for a FairMormon Facebook Live Streaming event! Visit our Facebook page and click on “Get Reminder” to get a heads-up when the event starts! Details here.

Sunday 13 December – “Egyptian Papers and the Translation of the Book of Abraham: What Careful Applications of the Evidence Can and Cannot Tell Us,” presented by Kerry Muhlestein, 2020 FairMormon Conference

Sunday 20 December – "Takeaways from the Gospel Topics Essays," presented by Lisa Olson Tait, 2018 FairMormon Conference

The #LightTheWorld campaign is underway! It's a great way to end the year on a hopeful note. Details here.

New at the Bookstore

There are still a lot of great deals on sale right now! If you're shipping for Christmas, keep this date in mind:

December 15, 2020 - Recommended send-by date for Christmas Delivery!

If you need things shipped a different speed or have a special circumstance, reply to this email. The Bookstore will make every effort to help you with your Christmas purchases!

Check here for Christmas titles & gift ideas.

Some of the other incredible titles in this sale are:

Exploring Mormon Thought, Vol 4: God's Plan to Heal Evil

General Conference Addresses, Journal Edition, October 2020

Be Not Troubled

Back in stock!
The Second Coming of the Lord

Peruse new titles here.

All purchases in the FairMormon Bookstore go directly to support FairMormon -- thanks for supporting us in this way!

Shaken Faith Spotlight

“Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon not by looking at the plates themselves, but by looking into the Urim and Thummim (his seer stone). Sometimes the plates were not even in the same room with Joseph as he was translating. The plates were probably not really necessary to create a translation of the Book of Mormon, but were more likely a God-given physical and tangible object that could prove to his friends, families, and ultimately skeptics (because of the statements of the witnesses) that he actually had ancient golden plates that contained ancient writings. ” ― Mike Ash, Shaken Faith Syndrome, p 228

Donate to FairMormon

We are trying to do more here at FairMormon! As we begin to wrap up 2020, we’re looking ahead to our new projects and funding needs for 2021. If you know anyone who has $5,000 they’re looking to do some good with, please send them our way! Just imagine:

12 people donating $5,000 each = 2021 Administrative & project management costs completely funded

10 people donating $1,000 each = Website hosting and maintenance completely funded

10 people donating $500 = 2021 Accounting, tax preparation & business fees completely funded

8 people donating $375 each = 2021 Software completely funded

4 people donating $175 each = 2021 Internet costs completely funded

20 people donating $100 each = 2021 Office expenses completely funded

50 people donating $80 each = 2021 Advertising expenses funded

Even though FairMormon is run primarily by volunteers, it costs money to host our websites, put on conferences & firesides and actively defend the faith. We are a 501c(3) corporation, so contributions are tax-deductible. We gratefully welcome donations of any amount.

If you would like to become a sustaining member of FairMormon, please click here.

All other donations, whether one-time or recurring, may be made here. If you would like to make a more substantial donation, please contact me directly.

If you would prefer to donate by check, mail it to this address:
FairMormon
PO Box 491677
Redding, CA 96049

Today's Quote...

“ Christmas is a time for remembering the Son of God and renewing our determination to take upon us his name. It is a time to reassess our lives and examine our thoughts, feelings and actions. Let this be a time of remembrance, of gratitude and a time of forgiveness. Let it be a time to ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its meaning for each of us personally. Let it especially be a time of renewal and recommitment to live by the word of God and to obey his commandments. By doing this, we honor him far more than we ever could with lights, gifts or parties.” ― Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Copyright (c) 2020 by The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) dba FairMormon. All rights are reserved. FairMormon is not owned by, controlled by, nor affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided in FairMormon publications are the sole responsibility of FairMormon and the individual authors who provide the information, and should not be interpreted as official statements of Latter-day Saint history, doctrine, practice or belief.